Pics from my Safari (May 2004)

[Shaky]

OK Oscar, see if I can get this to work, again

If the picture loads OK this is my Blesbuck I killed on the first day of my Safari in May 2004. To set things up a bit: My PH and myself walked up this hill, about 1/2 mile, and laid down under this lone acatia (sp) tree. It not only shaded us but hid us quite well. We saw a heard of about 400 Blesbuck and Impala off in the distance, feeding on the grasses and working their way towards us. My PH assured me that they would get close to our location. Well, he was spot on with that info. Within 2 hours we had Blesbuck and Impala all around. My PH located one nice fellow (Blesbuck) and kept whispering to me which one it was. We watched it (my PH using his bincos and me with my naked eyes) for a good 45 minutes as it and many others worked there way towards us. Finally it was real close and he identified it for me, again. I put the crosshairs on its left front leg (high) and had my trigger finger outside the trigger gaurd waiting for other animals behind him to clear. As they cleared I took the safe off and moved my finger inside the trigger gaurd and lightly held it against the trigger (its only a 2 1/2lb trigger). When he whispered NOW, I let er fly. I should add, I had the rifle on a portable rest and I was prone. The shot was at 50 yards. At the shot the Blesbok reared up on its hind legs and took several steps forward - I lost it at that point since all the other animals scattered and made a HUGE dust cloud with their hasty departure from the area. Marius (my PH) got up on one knee and said - after the dust cleared - he is down. It went about 10 yards - on its hind legs. When we got to it I found the exit hole (about 1" in diameter) just behind its right front leg. Its left front leg was broken from the entrance of the 127gr bullet. The 7mm mag worked great on my first African animal - an 18" Blesbuck (blesbok).

For those that don't know me I am the guy with the baseball cap on (backards ). The other guy in the picture is Marius, my PH.

 

[Shaky]

The rifle is a 7mm mag built on a Rem 700 action, 24" S/S barrel, McMillan GP graphite stock, 30mm badger ord rings, Swarovski 2.5 to 10 scope. I used 127gr all copper bullets that I make myself. The entrance hole is at the tip of the loaded round proped up on the left front leg.

Notice the clear skies. We got real lucky with the weather. In the 14 days we were in Africa it never rained once.

 

[Shaky]

I guess I am putting the cart before the horse here. I should post some pics of the lodge we stayed at.

Here is the outside of the 4200 Sq Ft lodge we stayed at. Actually this is the "Guest House" of the property owner, his "main house" is 12,000 sq ft in size.

 

[Shaky]

Here are some pictures of the inside of the lodge.

One of the pictures is of Myself and Marius (my PH) sitting on the leather couch enjoying the conversation with VPD10 (Jim) and his PH (Andreis).

Enjoy

 

[Shaky]

Although I had an Impala on my list I gave that opportunity to VPD10 (Jim). Jim took a nice Blesbok (18 3/4") and an Impala. I don't remember what his impala measured.

Here is a pic of the second animal I took, on the 3rd day of the Safari. Our intention that day was to go after Springbuck but this little bugger ran across our path as Marius was driving along so we put a stalk on the little bugger. Actually we put 3 stalks on the little bugger since the first 2 didn't allow a clean shot. We had to back off twice to get a better angle in the thick bush. Four hours after we saw the little guy I had it on the ground. Those of you that have met me know I shake like a dog shitten razor blades. For me to shoot this Steenbok at 125 yards using sticks that Marius had was an accomplishment - for me. I tried several times to use the sticks but couldn't get steady enough. Finally Marius came up with a great idea. Since I am right handed and he is a few inches shorter then me, he stood to my right, real close, and slightly behind me. He had me place my right elbow on his shoulderr and put the rifle across the shooting sticks. It worked great. I took a deep breathe, let some out, and squeezed. At the shot Marius told me I was high. I said: No Way, if anything I was low. He said he saw dust fly behind the steenbok. It was on the side of a small hill so it may of looked high, but it wasn't. When we (Marius, Velcome - my tracker/skinner, and myself) got up to it we all saw that it was a bit low. I was using the 7mm mag, 127gr bullet combo. Same rifle I used for the Blesbuck I took 2 days before.

Its horns measured 5 1/8".

I was told, for an Eastern Cape Steenbok that it was a good one.

The entrance hole is just above its right front hoof - in the picture.

 

[csutton7]

very nice--chris

 

[Shaky]

Chris,

Thanks.

Now, to continue the hunt,

After taking the steenbok we went after Springbuck - which was the plan that morning - we just got sidetracked

We rode to a location on the ranch where Marius has seen springbuck in the past. Must of been WAY in the past because we didn't see any, lol. Actually, it was getting late in the morning and it was warming up fast and they had already moved into the thicker (cooler) bush, for the most part. We did some driving, to various spots and glassed some. Actually Marius glassed since I can't use binocs very well since I shake so bad. We spotted some springbuck here and there but Marius said none of them were worth going after. I told him I wanted a decent representative animal but didn't care if it was SCI gold or silver. I was more interested in a nice cape then I was in a SCI head. They are such a pretty animal I just wanted one for the cape. After some more stops and glassing we came over a small hill and immediately Marius put the truck in reverse and backed up about 100 feet. He must have eyes like and eagle because I didn't see any animals anywhere. When he stopped he said: we have about 50 springbuck over this hill (he pointed in the direction). He said: Get out quitely. I did. We then moved up the hill, slowly, then got down on our knees and moved closer to the crest of the hill, finally, belly crawling the last 30 or so feet to the crest. Marius was right, there were about 50 springbuck in this meadow anywhere from 300 to 700 yards away. We watched them, wind in our face, for about 30 minutes until 2 of them broke away from the pack. The balance of them were working (grazing) their way up and to our right but these 2 were right in front of us about 400 yards out. Marius glassed them for a few minutes and said: One of them is a decent springbuck. Now all we had to do it wait till they separated for a clean shot. They were doing a little head butting every now and then. Finally they separated enough so as I wasn't concerned with shooting both of them with one shot but there was a small tree blocking a clean shot. I was prone, my 7mm mag sitting on the portable rest and had the crosshair on the one on the right - the one Marius told me to shoot. I asked for a distance and Marius hit it several times with the leica laser range finder. He said: 340 yards. At that I took the safe off and placed my finger gently against the trigger. When Marius said: Any time, I squeezed the trigger. Marius said: Good shot, perfect broadside, right behind the left front shoulder - the animal was facing left. It went down and the other animal ran off about 100 yards, then stopped, looked around and couldn't quite figure out what happened. I racked in another round and was back on it. I was just about to shoot again, since I didn't stay down, when it took off dead straight away.

We went back to the truck and went around the animal to get in front of it. We were both dumbfounded as to how it took off. We did get in front of it and got out. It spotted us and was staggering up a hill. We hoofed it up this hill to cut it off again. We got to the top before it did. One more shot at 100 yards and it was done.

When we got up to it we discovered that the bullet entered and exited in "no-mans-land". The entrance was above the lungs but below the spine.

I helped the "tracker/skinner" carry it down the hill and back to the bakkie (truck). Marius insisted I not carry the animal because he was affraid people would believe that they didn't take care of the animal after it was down. I told him, it was my mistake that we had to go after it, the least I could do was help carry it back to the truck. Marius said: You are the first and only hunter that has ever carried his/her own animal to the truck. No biggie, Springbuck aren't that big, plus it was all down hill.

So here I am, back to the truck, downing some cold soft drinks with a Steenbok and a Springbuck in the back.

This Africa hunting is GREAT.


The hill behind me (in the picture) with the sparce trees is about 1/2 mile away. At the top of it is where it was finished off.

 

[Shaky]

Stay tuned for the rest of the Safari

 

[GatoMan]

great pictures and storys

 

[csutton7]

keep em coming......chris

 

[Tuffbucker]

Congrats on some awesome trophies. Sounds like a great hunt!

SCOTT